High intensity discharge (HID) lamps provide the vast majority of lighting for streets, parking lots and other areas requiring security lighting. At present, there is no quick, simple, reliable method to verify the operational integrity of a newly installed light fixture. For example, sometimes the ballast in such a fixture is wired for one voltage and the line voltage is not compatible. According to current practices, if the newly installed lamp tries to ignite, the installation is generally considered good, and this is not always the case. Consequently, often ballasts are destroyed during the first few days of operation. Even if the newly installed fixture does not burn up, but is simply nonoperational, the owner of the installation typically has to prove that the installation is incorrect before the installing contractor can be required to reinstall the fixture. Furthermore, problems such as short lamp life, caused by lamps being overdriven by excessive ballast current, do not show up for months or years. These incurred costs to the fixture owner, for example an electric utility company, are not recoverable.
Throughout the electric utility industry, and for other owners of large numbers of HID light fixtures, an excessive amount of labor and material is being wasted in the repair/troubleshooting of the fixtures. Even under the best specifications utilized in the industry, the troubleshooting operation is a hit or miss proposition. The checks are often inconclusive. Thus, the troubleshooting operation often becomes a process of changing parts until the lamp ignites, which may or may not have solved the underlying problem. Even if the problem happens to be properly solved, many times parts (e.g., lamps, photocontrols, starters, complete fixtures) are installed that may not have been needed and the time spent troubleshooting is excessive. Those familiar with the troubleshooting procedures are aware of numerous revisits to the same fixture location where the source of the true problem is repeatedly missed.
Lastly, those installing new fixtures or troubleshooting malfunctioning fixtures tend to focus on replacing components in the fixture because available diagnostic tools and procedures lead them in this direction, when the problem quite often is in the wiring connecting the light fixture to the AC power source (transformer).
Accordingly, there is an acute need for a diagnostic device and an associated operational procedure for use throughout the electrical utility industry to permit the verification of the operational integrity of light fixtures at the time they are installed and to permit truly effective and efficient troubleshooting of nonoperational fixtures, including the identification of problems in the wiring connecting the light fixture to the AC power source.